Emperor
by Dazzit
Summary: Yonko – a title belonging to the sole rulers of the New World, and the four most powerful pirates in the world. Not even the World Government dare challenge them, so great is their power. To be Yonko is to be among the few closest to One Piece, to be among the few in the world who are free.


**Yonko – a title belonging to the sole rulers of the New World, and the four most powerful pirates in the world. Not even the World Government dare challenge them, so great is their power. To be Yonko is to be among the few closest to One Piece, to be among the few in the world who are free.**

Chapter 1: Departure

* * *

 _He had been promised much in the deal he had taken. Glory, power, followers and most importantly of all – a bounty. For fulfilling this task, Kaido would become one of the most infamous men on the planet, and in turn have only the strongest beings in the world seeking his head, as well as being in direct competition with three of them at the same time. He would become Yonko._

 _But first he had to deal with his quarry, a task far easier said than done._

 _Around him was fire where there had once been a bustling trade town, lost in the battle between him, his foe and his foe's underlings. Despite their efforts and great power, he had come out on top. Other than his target, the rest had died like fodder or fled. Such was the way of the wild world._

 _The ground cratered with his every step through the inferno, honed eyes seeking their prey like a hawk from the sky, his very presence parting walls of flames as if they too felt fear at this impossible being. He knew he'd found his prey when he felt him. While his victory only felt meters away, his opponent was by far his most hard fought so far – and that worried the beast known as Kaido greatly._

 _Another wall of flame split, and he saw the prey standing at the edge of a cliff, staring off into the vast ocean with his back to him. The man amused Kaido, wearing the coat of a marine admiral but without the arrogant "Justice" drawn onto the the back. Instead this man had done something arguably worse - "Freedom". While no better, it did endear Kaido to his target somewhat. It would not be without regret that he snuffed out his life. Blood dripped from the man's absent right arm._

" _Kaido, was it?" Asked the prey in a voice which almost made Kaido think he was not resented for his actions against him._

" _Yes." Rumbled the giant man, halting his steps if only to allow the prey its last words._

" _What is it you fight for?"_

 _"Death."_

 _"And was I to kill you?"_

 _"No. You are the stepping stone to my death. But you have done better than any other."_

" _Comforting, I suppose." A weak chuckle came from the prey, still staring out to the wide world. What was he looking for, Kaido wondered. "What do you seek in death?"_

" _Freedom. For and from myself."_

" _Ah. Well... I can respect that, I suppose." The man brought his remaining hand to his head of hair, rubbing it lightly. "I too seek freedom." For others or for yourself, Kaido wondered._

 _"Then I shall grant you it, Yonko."_

 _The prey turned its head, looking over its shoulder. Sharp blue stared Kaido down, the clash of their king-like presences being a no-contest, Kaido may win the war but he had lost that specific battle. The prey was a emperor among kings, destine to rule or liberate – if only it were not for Kaido. Kings and emperors matter not to the beast._

" _You can try."_

 _A moment of silence, and then he was gone._

 _Their cataclysmic battle resumed._

* * *

The East Blue was a peaceful place. The most people had to worry about was a corrupt marine captain or Don Krieg's crew and a few wannabe low-tier pirates, but for the most part a lot of islands had it good – and that was just how Shikamaru Nara liked it.

He'd spent many-a day like this one, lounging in the sun at the docks of the little island his lived on, dozing away the hours and only moving to get the occasional bit of food. Some of his fellow teenagers on the island found the place boring – he called it perfection. Doe Island, home sweet home. No pirate would want to come here, no real wealth to speak of, and there wasn't enough trouble to warrant anything other than a police force made up of a few grandpas. It was grass, hills a few houses and a store or two. Nothing could disrupt this...

Right? Right.

That's what he kept telling himself, trying to ignore the small boat floating out in the distance, it having not moved for a good hour and a half. He could see someone – something inside of the boat. It'd go away if he closed his eyes hard enough, he hoped.

Much to his disappointment, it did not and something close to a conscience began to nag away at the pineapple-headed teen. The midday sun made it difficult to keep his eyes closed for too long anyway. Shikamaru sat up in his deck chair, stretched out his bare arms and let out a sigh into the distance. He could already feel the immense amount of effort required to bring the adrift ship to the dock.

Shikamaru stood, taking the light beige coat from the back of his green-striped deck chair and throwing it over his black tank-top, looking around taking in the immediate area of the small dock to see what he could use to get that ship over to land. The only thing which stood out to him was the old docked fishing boat, and the tidal watermill on the flour mill rotating steadily.

 _'Boat should be enough.'_ Shikamaru sighed mentally to match his actual sigh, making his way across the wooden dock and onto the old humbly sized fishing boat.

A few moments of rummaging under tarp and peering at the undisturbed equipment on the deck, he finally found something.

 _'Harpoon gun,'_ He thought, hefting up the whaling tool. About as old as the boat, but it looked to be in one piece for the most part and with plenty of rope.

 _'Nothing to hold the rope once it's fired though...'_ He looked down at the end of the rope just drooping on deck and pursed his lips. He looked over to the tidal mill and shrugged. There was his plan, he supposed. Hopping off the boat and dragging the loose harpoon rope behind him, he positioned himself next to the small drop next to the water mill, threw the end of the rope into the rotating mill and brought the harpoon gun up to aim. Shikamaru took his time, adjusting and aiming upwards.

 _'Account for wind, weight, suppose distance...'_ Shikamaru calculated away in his head, and then fired, jolting his shoulder with the harpoons launch. The metal rod soared through the air and eventually dipped. Shikamaru observed his hand work as the harpoon impaled the side of the small boat and how the mill's rotation began to slowly pull it closer. Perhaps he could become a sharpshooter when he grew up?

 _'Nah. Effort.'_

Minutes later after guiding the one-man boat to the dock, Shikamaru found himself face to face with the one responsible for disrupting his routine of doing nothing. It was either a blonde skeleton or an unconscious and very hungry blonde that was roughly his age, Shikamaru could as much make out his rib cage under his purple (or was it a deep blue?) t-shirt. The ornate flower patterned collar seemed to be crumpled, also indicating a prolonged amount of time at sea... on top of the smell. Shikamaru squat down at the end of the dock, reaching out out to smack the other boy's whisker-marked cheek, trying to get a reaction from him.

He got a groan out of him. If the blond guy was dead, he'd have just kicked the boat back out and gone back to resting, but now he had the save a life. With no little effort, Shikamaru went about dragging the blonde onto the dock and getting ready to piggy-back him somewhere else. Exercise was not something Shikamaru really did so asking him to carry someone who, from the feel of it, was heavier than him up a road was a little bit exhausting.

Doe Island did not get many visitors, so seeing the island's most lazy child making his way back to the village with a stranger on his back naturally grabbed a few questions from locals, both old and young, and were answered with effortless 'dunno's and shrugs, a small crowd of locals coming to watch him pass through with their guest. Upon reaching his destination, he kicked open the door and yelled for its only other resident.

"Yoshino! Need some help!"

The response was immediate, the sound of someone stomping around upstairs and then rushing down, all within the span of a second and a half – Shikamaru knew his fate the moment he saw her round the corner from the stair well with the look of a demon in her eyes.

"Shikamaaaruuu!" She yelled, her fist colliding with the top of his head with force belying her size, dropping him to the ground with the stranger now laying across his back. For all the pain from the now forming bump, Shikamaru was hardly surprised. This was routine. The short, brown haired woman reached on down to pick him up by the collar of his jacket, shaking him violently while Shikamaru just dangled helplessly.

Struggling only lead to another bump, he'd learned over the years.

"Why do you always call me Yoshino?! I'm your mother, mister! Why can't you be like the other kids who call their mother things like... mom! I cook, I clean, I wake you up when you're technically in a coma - Why can't you be like other kids and get a real job around here to keep you active!"

"Yo- mom." Shikamaru tried to interject, quickly correcting himself out of survival instinct.

"Just like your damn father! I bet he's at work right now, doing nothing other than drinking tea and eating crackers with that brute of a man and the toad! Just like how you lay around all day and work on a tan!"

"Mom please."

"And forbid you ever do something with that head of yours other than count away the hours! You're ins-huh?" Mrs. Nara cut herself off upon noticing the now drooling, somewhat smelly and unconscious stranger face-first on the clean wooden flooring of her house. She looked from the stranger and then to Shikamaru, to the stranger and back to Shikamaru. She unceremoniously dropped her son onto his rear ("Ow.") and ran a hand down her face with an unvocalised groan.

"I'll see to it. Go, get out." She said, peering at her son with a near satanic glint in her eye.

He didn't show it, but he was positively terrified of his mother, there was something about her which seemed to radiate authority which even he could not completely disregard, try as he may. Maybe it was her freakish strength when she was angry which is what did it. Speaking of, he was more than happy to leave the house and return to his afternoon lounging, both avoiding his mother's wrath continuing with what he wanted to be doing all along.

Back at the dock, he settled into his deck chair and placed his hands behind his head, shuting his eyes.

 _'Yep. Home sweet home.'_

He forgot about the stranger after a mere moment of relaxation. Minutes turned into hours once more.

* * *

All good things come to end, unfortunately for Shikamaru. The day turns into night and the sun begins to set over the horizon, ushering in the chilly air of night. That was signal it was time to go home and eat. Shikamaru opened his eyes, got up and folded up his green-striped deck chair and groggily wandered back into town, back into his peaceful home. He kicked off his wooden sandals as he entered the lantern lit house, letting out a yawn and a stretch as he entered the dining room, anticipating the dinner waiting for him. He opened his eyes, staring at what was before him.

 _'...Huh.'_ He was stumped, and when he was stumped he did the only natural thing – call on his mother.

"Yoshinooo! Why is there a naked guy in my underwear and eating ramen?!"

That was exactly the scene before him. Short of the borrowed boxer-briefs, a blonde stranger was sat on one of the wooden chairs, cross-legged at the dinner table and slurping away at a packet ramen, only looking up at Shikamaru with his yell through the house. The blonde raised his hand in greeting.

"Yo, Pineapple!" He spoke with an excited tone and a mouth full of ramen and an attempted grin, earning a furrowed brow from the junior Nara. He looked familiar.

 _'Oh, the boat guy.'_ The blonde's transformation was something else, going from a husk to a perfectly healthy looking individual in only a few hours. Slowly turning his head to look at the trash, he could see how he had made his recovery. Pot ramen after pot ramen, stacked upon one another. This man had been eating from the moment he awoke, no doubt. A void of ramen. Shikamaru's mother etnered the room not a few moments after the call, strangely not pulverizing his skull at the use of her name. Instead she ushered her son into the room with her.

"Shikamaru! You're late!" He was always late. "Have you introduced yourself?" Code for 'introduce yourself'. The blonde swallowed the mouthful of ramen, a genuine smile levelled at the two Nara's.

"...Shouldn't he? He's the stranger here." Shikamaru reasoned, fully aware of the risk of speaking back against his mother. The blow came to his solar plexus, knocking the air out of him momentarily and forcing a cough. "...Shikamaru..." He wheezed, holding his gut and shuffling to take a seat as he recovered.

"Nice to meet you, Shikamaru! I'm Naruto Silvers. Sorry about the, eh..." Naruto brought a hand to the back of his head, shutting his eyes with a goofy but apologetic expression. What a readable guy.

Shikamaru was many things, but he was not stupid or unattentive. His was mother being uncharacteristically tense with Naruto around. Usually she acted as if she had every situation on lock, but she'd even given him a somewhat serious punch instead of a blow to his tough skull.

"Naruto woke up a few hours ago. I've been working on getting back into better health, and..." She looked at the boy with an almost confused expression, "Well. He's in better health already."

That was a point. When Shikamaru first saw the guy he was almost a starving skeleton, now it looked like he'd already recovered from that bout of starvation. Freaky stuff, but it was not exactly the weirdest thing on the island.

"I've got a good metabolism, 'ttebayo!" He said proudly, bringing an arm up and flexing. Shikamaru was not exactly a flabby guy, he put some work into his figure despite what his mother thought, but Naruto had the body of guy who had been doing hard work most of his life. A little bit impressed, a little bit envious, but mostly uncaring. "Thanks for the rescue, Shikamaru. I'd have been dead meat for sure."

Shikamaru crossed one leg over the other, leaning back in the chair and his mother eventually sat beside him. "Don't mention it. Really, don't. It'd be annoying if you started treating me like some saviour."

"S'no good. I owe you and your mom. I'll be in your debt for a while!"

"But -" Shikamaru got a jab to his side in an attempt to refute, his mother casting him a side-look with the most malicious smile he'd ever seen on her stress-lined face. He had no say. "But... okay. I guess you can stick around and help out mom..." Shikamaru wondered if he was going in the right direction, quickly flicking a look to his mother to get a look at her expression. Pleased. He was on target. "Start by telling us where you're from, though."

"An island in Paradise, mh-hm." Naruto answered with folded arms and a nod, as if it were a completely normal answer.

"The Grand Line?" Yoshino inquired with a tilt of her head.

"...Why - how are you so far? And without an actual ship?" Shikamaru asked the only natural question at that revelation. Shikamaru was no slack on his geography, to get from Paradise – no matter what island – was a trek filled with struggle. It was fishy, and his mom had somehow picked up on that before him if her subtle tenseness was anything to go by.

Naruto brought a hand up to his chin, thinking on his answer.

"I just followed my Log Pose, but I got thrown off course a few times." The blonde just shrugged with a goofy grin. Shikamaru's mouth opened to say something, but he found himself at a slight loss for words. This guy was treating the trip through the Grand Line to the East Blue with a shrug and grin.

Was he strong, or just really really stupid?

"I'm actually trying to get to a a place called Lougetown. Wouldn't happen to know how far off I am, would ya?"

"Considering where you came from? You're not too far off. A few more islands between here and there." Shikamaru answered with a non-committal shrug.

"Couple of weeks of sailing." Yoshino answered with a knowing nod. Weird, Shikamaru had never known his mom to be a sailor.

"Yess..." Naruto hissed to contain his joy, pumping his fist. "Thank you! I've been trying to get there for a while. I'll work hard to repay you, promise!" He placed his hands together in front of him, bowing his head.

"You can start tomorrow. Old Onoki's been working on repairing the lighthouse, but its been on hold for a while. His back problems have not exactly been helping the situation, but with two young men helping it out it should be done in no time at all." Yoshino wasted no time, and Shikamaru nodded along. And kept nodding. Then he did a double take.

"Wait – two - what."

"You're going to help him. This is the perfect opportunity for you to get some work done and give back to the village."

Shikamaru stared at his mother like she was mad, but she did not flinch. It wasn't up for debate, then. Just like that Shikamaru just accepted his fate with a disdainful groan, sliding his chair out and getting up, making his way for the stairs.

"I'm going to bed."

"Naruto can sleep in your bed. You can sleep on the floor." Shikamaru just groaned once more, a noise of acceptance but not approval. Yoshino had every intent of twisting this situation to make him pay, and so far she was doing a good job at it. All the while, Naruto just grinned happily.

Without the comfort of his bed, Shikimaru got very little sleep that night. Naruto, the fishy and total stranger, on the other hand slept like a rock. Little did Shikamaru know that this was merely the beginning of a long list of problems which came with being around Naruto.


End file.
